Shuttle Discovery docks with International Space Station's Harmony module. Photo Credit/NASA TV
The shuttle Discovery successfully docked with the International Space Station on Saturday, joining a dozen U. S., Russian and Italian astronauts for a week of construction work, cargo transfers and spacewalks.
The linkup unfolded at 2:14 p.m., EST, as the two spacecraft sailed 220 miles above Australia.
Shuttle astronauts Steve Lindsey, Eric Boe, Mike Barratt, Nicole Stott, Al Drew and Steve Bowen received a warm greeting from Station commander Scott Kelly, Catherine Coleman, Paulo Nespoli, Alexander Kaleri, Dmitry Kondratyev and Oleg Skripochka.
Station astronauts, green shirts, and Discovery's crew, blue shirts, greet after docking. Photo Credit/NASA TV
As Discovery neared the station, Lindsey steered the shuttle through a slow back flip, exposing the ship’s under side heat shielding to Coleman and Nespoli. Equipped with long lens cameras, the two station astronauts took hundreds of close up photos of the underside thermal tiles, which were transmitted to NASA’s Mission Control. Ground-based imagery experts will examine the photos closely for signs of damage Discovery may have received during Thursday’s launching.
So far, though, it appears Discovery lifted off on her 39th and final flight unscathed.
Saturday’s docking marked the start of the fleet leader’s 13th space station visit.
During their first hours together, the 12 astronauts planned to use the shuttle and station robot arms to hoist an external spare parts platform out of Discovery’s cargo bay. The big rack will be attached the right side of the station’s long solar truss, where it will store a spare thermal control system radiator.
Discovery also carries 1,500 pounds of internal cargo, which the astronauts will begin to transfer to the station on Sunday.
Drew and Bowen will embark on the first of two spacewalks outside the station on Monday.
Their maintenance activities will include the retrieval of a station cooling pump that failed in late July. The pump will be moved close to the station’s airlock, where astronauts from the shuttle Atlantis hope to collect and pack it away during a mission planned for this summer.
The largest Discovery payload, a large equipment storage module called Leonardo, will be transferred from the shuttle to the station on Tuesday.
The second spacewalk by Drew and Bowen is set for Wednesday.
The shuttle will remain docked until Saturday and possibly a day longer.